Psalm 80

Contemporary English Version

(A psalm by Asaph for the music leader. To the tune “Lilies of the Agreement.”)

Help Our Nation

¹^(A) Shepherd of Israel, you lead
    the descendants of Joseph,
and you sit on your throne
    above the winged creatures.^[a]
Listen to our prayer
    and let your light shine
²for the tribes of Ephraim,
Benjamin, and Manasseh.
    Save us by your power.

³Our God, make us strong again!
Smile on us and save us.

⁴Lord God All-Powerful,
    how much longer
will the prayers of your people
    make you angry?
⁵You gave us tears for food,
and you made us drink them
    by the bowlful.
⁶Because of you,
our enemies who live nearby
    laugh and joke about us.
⁷Our God, make us strong again!
    Smile on us and save us.

⁸We were like a grapevine
    you brought out of Egypt.
You chased other nations away
    and planted us here.
⁹Then you cleared the ground,
and we put our roots deep,
    spreading over the land.
¹⁰Shade from this vine covered
    the mountains.
Its branches climbed
the mighty cedars
¹¹    and stretched to the sea;
its new growth reached
    to the river.^[b]

¹²Our Lord, why have you
torn down the wall
    from around the vineyard?
You let everyone who walks by
    pick the grapes.
¹³Now the vine is gobbled up
by pigs from the forest
    and other wild animals.

¹⁴God All-Powerful,
    please do something!
Look down from heaven
and see what's happening
    to this vine.
¹⁵With your own hands
    you planted its roots,
and you raised it
    as your very own.

¹⁶Enemies chopped the vine down
    and set it on fire.
Now show your anger
    and destroy them.
¹⁷But help the one who sits
    at your right side,^[c]
the one you raised
    to be your very own.
¹⁸Then we will never turn away.
Put new life into us,
    and we will worship you.

¹⁹Lord God All-Powerful,
make us strong again!
Smile on us and save us.

Footnotes

80.1 winged creatures: Two winged creatures made of gold were on the top of the sacred chest and were symbols of the Lord's throne on earth (see Exodus 25.18).
80.11 the sea … the river: The Mediterranean Sea and the Euphrates River were part of the ideal boundaries for Israel.
80.17 right side: See the note at 16.11.

Ephesians 1:3-14

Contemporary English Version

Christ Brings Spiritual Blessings

³Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for the spiritual blessings that Christ has brought us from heaven! ⁴Before the world was created, God had Christ choose us to live with him and to be his holy and innocent and loving people. ⁵God was kind^[a] and decided that Christ would choose us to be God's own adopted children. ⁶God treated us with undeserved grace because of the Son he dearly loves, and so we should praise God.

^7-8^(A) Christ sacrificed his life's blood to set us free, which means our sins are now forgiven. Christ did this because of God's gift of undeserved grace to us. God has great wisdom and understanding, ⁹and by what Christ has done, God has shown us his own mysterious ways. ¹⁰Then when the time is right, God will do all he has planned, and Christ will bring together everything in heaven and on earth.

¹¹God always does what he plans, and this is why he appointed Christ to choose us. ¹²He did this so we Jews would bring honor to him and be the first ones to have hope because of him. ¹³Christ also brought you the truth, which is the good news about how you can be saved. You put your faith in Christ and were given the promised Holy Spirit to show you belong to God. ¹⁴The Spirit also makes us sure we will be given what God has stored up for his people. Then we will be set free, and God will be honored and praised.

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Footnotes

1.4,5 holy and innocent and loving people. ⁵God was kind: Or “holy and innocent people. God was loving ⁵and kind.”

1 John 1:5-7

Contemporary English Version

God Is Light

⁵Jesus told us God is light and doesn't have any darkness in him. Now we are telling you.

⁶If we say we share in life with God and keep on living in the dark, we are lying and are not living by the truth. ⁷^(A) But if we live in the light, as God does, we share in life with each other. And the blood of his Son Jesus washes all our sins away.

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